Wishful Thoughts
by Relm Wanderer
Summary: Gourry is fed up with everyone always thinking he's stupid  him included  and unknowingly he wishes on a shooting star that that would change. Eventual Gourry/Sylphiel fic.


_Author's Notes: In a way you could say this is somewhat inspired by the movie 'What Woman Want'. Not the movie itself but the one idea from it. If it's not apparent, this will be a Gourry/Sylphiel fanfic not a Gourry/Lina fic. _

_This story and all my Gourry/Sylphiel stuff goes on my Gourry/Sylphiel shrine first:_

_relmw . com / gs _

_(Just remove the spaces)_

**Wishful Thoughts**

Prologue

By Relm

Stupid, moron, dummy, jellyfish brains... Gourry had been called them all. In the general consensus of the world it seemed that Gourry was in all intensive purposes a person with below average intelligence. He wasn't smart or gifted he was just not that bright.

However calling Gourry stupid wasn't fair. Sure he did have his learning disabilities but that centered on his ability to listen and pay attention or his memory. Because you see Gourry wasn't stupid per say but he just wasn't focused.

Gourry had a tendency to get distracted instead of keeping all his attention on the things at hand. This perpetual distraction followed Gourry from his childhood all the way to his life as a budding mercenary. And though it didn't bother Gourry much it did bother people around him.

"Gourry! How could you forget to pick up the magic powder?" Lina screamed at Gourry for the hundredth time that day.

Gourry scratched his head as he tried to remember what item Lina was currently barking about. At this point he had stopped caring if he upset the sorceress. Lina always seemed to yell at him for one thing or another. And she always made it so damned impossible to follow her instructions as she usually spoke them a mile a minute. After awhile it all becomes one big blur in a person's head. "What powder?"

"GAH!" Lina yelled in frustration. "The powder we need for that enchantment! Gods I am so sick of working with an incompetent fool! You never remember anything!"

Gourry lowered his head in shame. He'd messed up again. Instead of really showing how he felt Gourry just put on a carefree face. "Do we really need the powder? Couldn't we use something else?"

Lina didn't answer him she just grumbled something inaudible.

While Lina worked on solving whatever problem it was that Gourry had created Gourry himself was shrinking back into his head.

Gourry never told Lina but he didn't like being called all those bad names. He tried really he did try to pay attention and understand what he was being told. But it wasn't so easy for the blond swordsman. It was so frustrating the point that it made Gourry want to cry. But Gourry never cried or complained. Because he had be a strong man, and real men don't cry. And even though it wasn't the case Gourry himself had come to the conclusion he was stupid anyway. It's what everyone called him so why wasn't it true? It had to be, everyone around was smarter anyway. So what right did he have to complain?

Instead of thinking the matter further Gourry's already distracted mind was further distracted by his stomach. He was hungry. And with his usual routine of not thinking before he acts Gourry had to voice his current issue. "Lina I'm hungry. Do we have any food?"

This was a bad idea as Lina was already mad about Gourry goofing up the instructions she had given him. Apparently this magic powder had something to do with them getting food though Gourry for the life of him didn't understand how. So Gourry mentioning food just further set Lina off the edge.

Gourry tuned Lina out once more. She was yelling again and some of the words Gourry hadn't even had heard before. He could have pondered their meaning but in the context and the tone she was using them he just assumed they were profanities. His assumption was correct as each one ended up with Gourry being hit with Lina's boot.

This wasn't an uncommon day for the bandit killing pair. They had had many days like this. It was either hunting for treasure, power or food. Sometimes they panned out, other times they didn't. It was one repetitive day after another. They all just bled together until one day...

The pair had ended up in a small little town. It was one of those places one would travel through on their way to some other bigger destination. In this case the destination was Sailune. Lina had some reason to drag them to the white magic capital of the demon peninsula though Gourry didn't know what. In his mind when he heard the word Sailune all he could think about was food.

Sailune being a large kingdom and country had all sorts of bakeries, shops and restaurants. And the castle chefs were top notch able to produce the most lavish of meals. But that wasn't what Gourry thought about when he thought of Sailune. Well he did think of those things too but there was something else a little more pressing in his mind. This was one former shrine maiden by the name of Sylphiel.

The last time Gourry had seen Sylphiel was in Tarforashia. The former shrine maiden had come with Prince Philonel to lend a hand to the masses. It had been nice to see Sylphiel and work alongside her helping others. It made Gourry reflect on the original reason why he had gone traveling off by himself in the first place. Though Gourry was a traveling mercenary his mission in life was to help others. He had proclaimed to be Lina's bodyguard and protect her but it wasn't quite the same as doing a good day's honest work.

When the group had parted ways Sylphiel had promised Gourry that when he came to Sailune next she would make him a pie. Since pie was one of his most favourite things to eat. It didn't matter if it was a sweet or savoury pie Gourry loved anything baked in a crust.

So as Lina and Gourry decided to stop in that little town for the night Gourry was sure to have dreams of the pie he was traveling towards...

That is if Gourry was able to go sleep. Apparently he had done something wrong again and Lina was mad at him. As such Gourry somehow didn't end up with a room sleep in for the night. If one couldn't sleep then one couldn't dream now could they? Gourry's only option was to camp outside and hope he could sleep a little.

One could argue that it was mean of Lina to make Gourry sleep outside. But it wouldn't have mattered anyway; there was only one room available in the inn. Gourry being the gentlemen he was wouldn't have taken the room anyway. The fact that Lina had gotten mad at him was just a coincidence after all.

Letting out a deep sigh Gourry found a spot just on the outskirts of the town under a tree to set up his bed roll. At the very least the sky was clear so there were many stars in the sky to keep him company. If he couldn't sleep he could always count them.

"Yer lady kicked you to the curb did she?" A scruffy old man questioned Gourry while sitting himself down next to where Gourry intended to sleep. The man had seemed to appear out of nowhere and it had startled Gourry into almost completely drawing his sword for a defensive attack.

"Yeah I made her mad again." Gourry admitted sheepishly while putting his sword back.

"Women are complicated creatures." The man spoke in a gruff but sagely voice.

Gourry nodded in agreement. A shooting star streaming across the sky as Gourry let out a deep sigh. "I wish I could read people's minds. I'm too stupid to understand things."

The old man smiled as he pat the blond swordsman on the shoulder. "Don't worry. Things will be clearer in the morning."

...

When Gourry woke that next morning he didn't even remember falling asleep. The last thing he remembered was the old man speaking to him.

'I must have fallen asleep when that old guy was talking to me. That's kinda rude. I hope he wasn't offended.' Gourry thought to himself as he packed his stuff up.

"GOURRY!" Lina's angry voice rang through the village like a siren.

Hearing his 'master's' voice Gourry hurried up and rushed over to find Lina. "Good morning Lina!" He greeted her with a cheerful voice and matching smile.

Lina frowned. "There is nothing good about it! Now let's get going!" She growled at him. _Why the hell is he so damned cheerful for? I made him sleep outside! Why am I so mean for? _

Gourry frowned as he looked at Lina. He had head the first she had said about leaving but now he was also hearing Lina talk about him. What was strange was that he didn't even see her mouth moving. The voice had sounded a little funny too. Like it was a bit muffled...

"What are you looking at? I said let's go!" Lina yelled as she stormed off.

Gourry shook it off and followed Lina. He concluded that he had been hearing things.

_(Author's Notes: I don't know why Lina ended up being meanish. Well she is normally mean to Gourry however I think I may have made her meaner. Really I was just trying illustrate that though Lina may be short with Gourry she does feel bad for her actions. This is not intended to be a Lina bashing fic.) _


End file.
